McGees of Leckpatrick Parish, Tyrone

Hi Pat,

The Roman Catholic church records for Leckpatrick only start from 1863 unfortunately. Did you check the land records about the farm? The ealier land records are called the Tithe Applotment Books (1823-38), while the later land records are called Griffith's Valuation (1848-64). Griffith's is freely available here: www.askaboutireland.com

You could also possibly try the Spinning-Wheel Premium Lists (1796). There are 7,150 names listed for County Tyrone. Their names might be listed here. (www.failteromhat.com)

Please make sure you link anyone else in your family who is interested in their Irish heritage to our site - and indeed anyone else you know of Irish heritage.

Kind regards,

Sinead Cooney

Genealogist (Ireland XO)

I checked out the websites suggested by Sinead Cooney, and got fantastic results. In the 1796 Flax Growers List (www.failteromhat.com) I  found an Alexander Magee with 4 spinning wheels and a Joseph Magee with 1 spinning wheel. Both lived at Strabane Bog in Leckpatrick. I had checked other websites offering searches of this list, but this time I was able to scroll through the whole list and saw the Strabane Bog detail the other databases lacked. Joseph and Alexander are names used by my North American McGees. Continuing with Strabane Bog records, the Griffiths Valuations for 1858 lists a Robert Magee there, and on the same page a Henry M'Gee; again  names used by my N.American McGees.That website (www.askaboutireland.ie) has the images of the documents, making it easier to get the whole picture. I looked at the 1901 and 1911 Irish censuses and found two sisters, Margaret and Sarah Magee living at Strabane Bog together. Their mother was Isabella, who was gone by 1911. Everywhere else I looked I had not been able to find any McGees at Leckpatrick other than Robert McGee's Royal Artillery record. Thanks to Sinead's information, I now think I have found my family in Ireland, and that our name used to be spelled Magee. Thank you, Sinead, and thanks to everyone involved in this Ireland Reaching Out project!

Now that I've found my Magees in Strabane Bog, I would be interested in hearing from any potential kin or others researching this family. I have a lot of info on the families of James and Robert McGee in New York State and Canada, info that spans the period 1825 to present.

hi pat

i am joe gallagher my great grand father william gallagher i believe is from tract #5 of strabane bog.  i have 7 records of birth for williams children 6 state woodend as townland the 7th states "long row" long row is not a townland it is a place at the top end of strabane bog it goes down from 2b, 3,4a 2a, then 5 i think. woodend is just above strabane bog by about a half mile.

not sure weather the william of griffiths was my great grandfather or his father.  that would explain why the seventh birth record said long row.

if my G G grandfather was a william and my G grandfather was a william the second william could have assumed rental of the property.

there is a thing called griffiths revisions where every ten years the surveyors would go around and record if the same people were on the land or if a different person took over.  these records are only available from the GRONI and are not available via internet.

hey neighbor

Hi, Joe! Assuming that my GGG grandfather and his sons James and Robert left behind family in Strabane Bog when they bogged off circa 1820 to the New World, then our ancestors were probably neighbours there. I am intrigued by your knowledge of lots in the townland. Do you have a map or survey that you would care to share? I'm here in western Canada and unable to travel to Ulster to do local research or to explore the lay of the land. I knew nothing of the Griffiths revisions until you mentioned them. I haven't tried to get any info from GRONI yet. They should put it online; there are millions of us around the world who yearn for more information about our Irish roots.

hi pat

i thought you knew,  there ia a henry mcgee in strabane bog 1859ish he is in tract 2 renting a house for 5 shillings per year. the site is www.askaboutireland.ie go to the home page and look for a link there that says griffiths valuation. when you get to the search page put in the surname = mcgee, county = tyrone, and parish = leckpatrick. click search you will go to a page that shows mcgee, henry, tyrone, leckpatrick next to that there will be 3 links: details; gives the particulars of the stuff; original page is the original listing (pick the larger one plus zoom in) you can print this page;  last map view pick the larger again. you will have to zoom in when you get to the map you will see a white circle and a pink rectangle in the lower left hand cornner of the pink rectangle you will see a grey area that is the city of strabane.  strabane bog is north along a canal that runs out of strabane.look f.or the larger black lettering "leckpatrick" strabane bog and long row is just to the left of the L. you cant print the map. i take pictures of the computer screen at various zoom levels. look all around interisting stuff.

also i checked the 1901 ireland census for you there is an isabella mcgee that is 65 widowed with two daughters. that would make her 25 at the time of the valuation probably henry's wife and daughters and a niece.

that site is www.census.nationalarchives.ie  from the home page pick BROWSE CENSUS, then 1901, then tyrone, then strabane, then strabane bog.  isabella is in house #7

do the same thing for the 1911 census tha only difference is that strabane is broken into 4 parts pick strabane north. they are house #5 (different house number doen not necessarly mean they moved) look at "view census images" lots of info and these can be printed.

like in the 1901 census isabella could not write where her name is printed inbetween the forename and surmane is an X and above and below that X is written "her mark".

then you can go to www.familysrarch.org (mormans) and try to find death birth and marriage records, they wont have the actual records they will have indexes. on the front page scrool down and pick search by location. the next page you will be able to pick isish records only which cuts out a lot of stuff you arent looking for.

you need to try to connect henry to the ancestors you have.

there are plenty of maps available on line just google parishes of tyrone, and townlands of tyrone.  the valuation maps are very complete the surveyors did not leave anything out you can see the "work house" "fever hospital" churches, schools, mills of all types.

have fun

hope this helps

oh one last thing in 1880's 90's the land act was passes allowing renters to purchase the land in the 1911 census the mcgees were still rentingfrom an edward gallagher (dont think he is related)

i am in delaware USA. wanting to move to montana the missoula area

I have learned a lot more about my Leckpatrick McGees since my last message. Robert McGee was NOT in the Royal Artillery; that was a different man. My GG grandfather James McGee and his brothers Robert, William and Oliver all served in the Glengarry (Ontario, Canada) Militia in the War of 1812. Their parents were Robert and Jane McGee. They rented a farm on the Glengarry Indian Lands in the early 19th Century and then most of them purchased farmland in St. Lawrence County, New York by 1830. A distant cousin from the Oliver McGee line (the only one who stayed in Canada) has confirmed via McGee oral family history passed down to her as a child that we did indeed come from Leckpatrick in County Tyrone and before that our ancestors were Scottish. I'm hoping to find a male McGee descendant of one of these lines to do a DNA test. I keep in touch with 3 American McGees whose ancestors also came from the Strabane area. They participate in the McGee surname DNA project. I have several family trees posted at ancestry.com which cover all four McGee brothers and their descendants. If anyone wishes to see these trees online, please contact me. Pat McGee